Tag: Macro

Saturday (18-August-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

I’m back from a 10-day trip to Germany. It was hot and dry in Germany, but apparently hot and wet in New Jersey. The grass needs to be mowed, the weeds need to be pulled, and the patio garden cleaned up. Some of the tomatoes are ripe, but others rotted. The tomato leaves are turning yellow (too much water, or need nitrogen fertilizer?).  Several of the hot peppers are bright red and ready to be picked. There was one remaining yellow squash, and two white eggplants. The wildflower garden continues to attract butterflies and bees. This was the first female black swallowtail butterfly that I have seen this season. A bumblebee was pollinating the basil flowers. There were several Monarch butterflies feeding on the zinnia wildflowers. I also made a quick trip to the local weekly farmers market. It is smaller than the daily markets I saw at several public squares in Germany.

Female Black Swallowtail Butterfly. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 200, 80 mm, f/4, 1/950 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Female Black Swallowtail Butterfly. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 200, 80 mm, f/4, 1/950 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Bumblebee on Basil Flowers. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 200, 80 mm, f/4, 1/1100 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Bumblebee on Basil Flowers. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 200, 80 mm, f/4, 1/1100 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)



Saturday (04-August-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Hummingbird Clearwing Moth

Clearwing Hummingbird Moth. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 200, 80 mm, f/2.8, 1/2900 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Clearwing Hummingbird Moth. Image taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 200, 80 mm, f/2.8, 1/2900 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)


Monday (30-July-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

I finally saw a large butterfly again in my wildflower plot. This time a Tiger Swallowtail. There have been a lot of tiny butterflies and bumblebees, but the Monarch butterflies and the Clearwing Hummingbird moths have stayed away.  While checking the garden towers, I saw that one type of caterpillar has pretty much eaten all of my dill plants. I’m glad that I collected and froze some of the dill earlier. A different type of caterpillar pretty much ate all of my kale plants (almost overnight). I pulled all of the remaining kale and put them into a sealed mulch container. I also got several images of this strange (Darth Vader) spider.





Individual images in the slide shows can be viewed here.

Friday (27-July-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

I am glad that I protected one section of my wildflowers from the deer. The main flowers in bloom right now are a variety of different colored Zinnia and Cosmos. These, especially the Zinnia are attracting Monarch Butterflies, Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies, and Clearwing Hummingbird Moths. Plus there are several other smaller butterflies, bumble bees, honey bees, and wasps that are also being attracted to the flowers.




Individual images in the slide shows can be viewed here.

Thursday (26-July-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Afternoon walkabout in my garden with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/2.8 macro lens. Flowers & Bugs.



Individual images in the slide shows can be viewed here.